Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Kevin Rose Just Lost His Co-Founder in North to Political App Brigade

Although Rose ultimately decided to shift east, Hemeon didn’t want to.

Marc Hemeon, About.me

Marc Hemeon, the former Google designer who co-founded the app incubator North, is moving on to a new project. He has left his partner, Kevin Rose, the founder of the once-popular news aggregator Digg, to join Sean Parker’s political causes app Brigade.

“I want to thank Kevin and Ben [Clymer] for an incredible experience and their support through this tough decision,” Hemeon said in a Medium blog post about the news. “I’ll continue as a shareholder, adviser and friend.”

Hemeon will be head of design at Brigade, which people use as a way to connect socially over the policies they care about. They vote which way they swing on different issues, peruse friends’ responses and create their own causes for friends to vote for.

Hemeon’s move to Brigade comes months after North ventured into watches with its website that aggregates news about timepieces — fittingly called Watchville — and then merged with existing watch fan site Hodinkee.

It was a winding road for the duo and one that ended in New York City, where Hodinkee is headquartered.

Rose ultimately decided to shift east to build out his service for watch fanatics. It was a move both physically and metaphorically divergent from his tech roots and it came as a surprise to those who saw him as Silicon Valley startup inspiration.

In the end, Hemeon didn’t want to make the same leap.

“I decided it’s best for our family to remain planted here,” Hemeon said.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Technology
The case for AI realismThe case for AI realism
Technology

AI isn’t going to be the end of the world — no matter what this documentary sometimes argues.

By Shayna Korol
Politics
OpenAI’s oddly socialist, wildly hypocritical new economic agendaOpenAI’s oddly socialist, wildly hypocritical new economic agenda
Politics

The AI company released a set of highly progressive policy ideas. There’s just one small problem.

By Eric Levitz
Future Perfect
Human bodies aren’t ready to travel to Mars. Space medicine can help.Human bodies aren’t ready to travel to Mars. Space medicine can help.
Future Perfect

Protecting astronauts in space — and maybe even Mars — will help transform health on Earth.

By Shayna Korol
Podcasts
The importance of space toilets, explainedThe importance of space toilets, explained
Podcast
Podcasts

Houston, we have a plumbing problem.

By Peter Balonon-Rosen and Sean Rameswaram
Technology
What happened when they installed ChatGPT on a nuclear supercomputerWhat happened when they installed ChatGPT on a nuclear supercomputer
Technology

How they’re using AI at the lab that created the atom bomb.

By Joshua Keating
Future Perfect
Humanity’s return to the moon is a deeply religious missionHumanity’s return to the moon is a deeply religious mission
Future Perfect

Space barons like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk don’t seem religious. But their quest to colonize outer space is.

By Sigal Samuel